mindmeld,
Not even the Democrats have been bold enough in their plans for conservation and investment in alternative fuels. I think both parties are thinking along the lines of $5 to $10 billion. But we need to start thinking more along the lines of a project to Mars. We need $100 to $200 billion to really jumpstart the industry and the technologies, as well as build the infrastructure and create tax incentives. We need a no holds barred attempt.
We have a perfectly fine, never used, alternative fuel (nuclear) power plant on Long Island of New York. It was never used because of the crazies made the politicians scared.
The politicians shut it down, as all the tests passed and was about to go to production. This happened 10 years ago. As a result, we had to import 10 years worth of oil, to replace the needed power.
As far as tax incentives, there are no incentives to promote domestically produced energy (such as nuclear) over oil imports.
One thing I would favor is a tax on oil powered power plans, going up on sliding scale, which would make sure that the economics would just not be there to build another one, and the existing operators would be on know that the tax keep increasing, reducing viability, making them switch to other fuels over the period of next decade or 2 (price of oil may hasten it).
It would not really cost any money. Instead, it would bring revenues.
Joe |
